The Planet of the Links
Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 12:15AM Pull it together, Nathaniel! There is so much showbiz news of late that we've been buried in avalanche of it. How to stop and collect the linkage? So herewith a looooong list of links in a vain attempt to catch up or but by the time you've read it we'll surely have missed another 20 stories in addition to those that already slipped by in the past two weeks. What I'm saying is "too many things too many things too many things"
So read on and click away for The Avengers: Infinity War, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jessica Chastain, Big Little Lies paydays, Sundance buzz, and much much more. Please to enjoy or at least peruse...
Film
• Reuters Big news. Saudi Arabia has lifted the ban on movies which has been in place for 35 years. Sadly they started again with The Emoji Movie but better any movie than none!
• Dark Horizons Perpetually undervalued Mary Elizabeth Winstead might not stay undervalued forever. She beat out other big actresses for the female role in Ang Lee's Gemini Man which will star Will Smith
• MNPP Remembering River Phoenix who would be 48 now (!)
• Go Into the Story how insane is it to attempt a new screenwriter career in your 40s?
• Reddit Paul Thomas Anderson's awesome Q&A with fans. He loves Call Me By Your Name, Maya Rudolph (his wife who is name dropped several times), and as we already knew the films of Altman and Demme
• /Film supposedly Avengers Infinity War has 76 characters in it though only 44 are "known"
• Variety finally some movement on a Black Widow movie? Methinks by the time they're actually ready they'll want to recast since Scarlett will be (gasp) in her mid 30s
• Cartoon Brew on the Visual Effects Society nominations. Despicable Me 3 led the animated films that were in the mix with 5 nominations and Blade Runner 2049 and War for the Planet of the Apes co-lead the live action features with 7 nods each.
• THR Timothee Chalamet auditioned for Spider-Man
• Cinematic Corner Sati appreciates Jessica Chastain's strength twice over with Molly's Game and Miss Sloane
LIZZIE with Stewart & Sevigny
Sundance Film Festival
• Variety Andrea Riseborough might be the Sundance breakout this year. She's got four films there!
• Vanity Fair names 21 films which might become this year's Sundance Film Festival darlings
• Los Angeles Times has their own preview of goodies, both dramatic and documentary-wise
• AfterEllen lists the sapphic interest movies at this year's festival including Lizzie with Chloe Sevigny and Kristen Stewart
• THR believes you won't see massive parties at Sundance this year given the current post-Weinstein mood. (This seems strange to us as having parties ≠ support for assault or gender wars)
TV
• Out A totally righteous statement. The X-Men series Gifted (and all X-Men film versions really) need to quit with the LGBT allegories and actually give us Queer mutants. These characters exist in the comics. Why are they never on the screen?
• THR Big Little Lies stars got huge deals for Season 2 since none of them had a second season in their contract
• THR Ellen Pompeo gives a very salty interview about her time on Grey's Anatomy now that she's TV's highest paid actress
• Kenneth in the (212) awww, this is cute: Frequently confused Dylan McDermott and Dermot Mulroney together in a TV episode
• Variety Fire and Fury will be adapted into a new miniseries -- why anyone would want to relive the Trump era while we're still in it is beyond me. I already feel ill on a daily basis. Don't also need it dramatized on the TV.
Miscellania
• Boy Culture Dolores O'Riordan of "The Cranberries" fame died unexpectedly at only 46 (So sad. I loved that band soooo much and her vocals were top notch)
• Theater Mania Moulin Rouge! the stage musical has a premiere date in Boston of June 27th
• Show-Score a guide to current NYC stage productions featuring a 50% female creative team
• Towleroad awesome out figure skater and Olympian Adam Rippon rips Vice President Pence for his homophobia
• Towleroad and Rippon isn't the only out figure skater in the mix this year. Canada has Eric Radford
Get Your History!
• Google Doodles honored Mexican actress Katy Jurado the other day and if you saw their beautiful illustration, or even if you didn't, please to remember that we chatted about her when we did the 1954 Smackdown and its companion podcast, so take a look and listen. Her most iconic Hollywood role was in High Noon (1952) for which she was weirdly Oscar-snubbed but they made it up to her with the far lesser though still worth seeing western Broken Lance (1954) which we discussed on that Smackdown.
Surprise Exit Photo
Michael Shannon doing his best Iggy Pop in Chicago on stage? Oh my. This is a really odd way to Oscar campign*.
* Kidding. It's not for an Oscar campaign and please dear god don't let him get one of those surprise nods for twisting his moustache and threatening the damsel in distress in Shape of Water. Yeeesh.
Reader Comments (16)
Shrug. I thought Michael Shannon was the most interesting part of Shape of Water. That's right.
Me Too and Times Up will come at a price for all. Not just the accused. And if that means Hollywood loses its sense of hedonism so be it. France / Germany will always have a superior attitude about men women and sexuality over the rest of the world.
Shannon needs to stay away from the villain roles for a little while... he has so much more to offer.
Shannon's performance is exactly the same as in Nocturnal Animals, only this time he's a villain. But it's the same thing. So I'm not sure staying away from villain roles is the answer. He's just a creepy looking guy and is simply stuck in that role.
I am baffled at how ANDREA RISEBOROUGH is not already a big name or a breakthrough actress in Hollywood. She is immensely talented, a complete chameleon if you ask me, and co-starred in a Best Picture winning film as basically the hot chick. Goddamnit she was the lead part in a Madonna flick.
She also gave a lovely natural performance in this year's most undervalued film BOTS,The reason my pick Stone for Best Actress is a lot to do with her chemistry with Andrea,bring the Oscar nomination on for both ladies
Interesting Marvel has finally decided to make a Black Widow movie. Given the fact she's Scarlett's signature role in recent years I believe they won't recast, but you never know.... Shame se can be considered too old in spite of being 33 only
1) By god, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was impressive in Smashed (just beat out in my personal list by Margarete Tiesel in Paradise: Love) so I'm delighted she's getting higher-profile work
2) Much as I love Riseborough, I initially misread and thought that Andrea ARNOLD had 4 films in competition at Sundance and nearly screamed with joy
3) That Ellen Pompeo interview is so direct and almost abrasive, yet it makes me LOVE her. Talk about somebody being completely self-aware and honest that "mega-rich" has never been her dream, she's simply accepted that it's her path and second-best to "great craftsperson" which she never quite reached... there's still time Ellen!!!!
One last thought - my favourite Andrea Riseborough performances (excluding UK TV work) -
1) W.E.
2) Shadowdancer
3) Birdman
I so agree with that piece on Miss Sloane vs. Molly's Game. People called Miss Sloane "Aaron Sorkin light," yet it was so much more compelling than the real Aaron Sorkin movie - and Jess's performance was so much better for it.
She beat out other big actresses for the female role in Ang Lee's Gemini Man
The female role. The. Role. One female role. One.
If I only saw Bechdel movies I'd never leave the house.
I hated Andrea Riseborough's Black Mirror episode, but my God, was she powerful in it.
Also, go back and watch her chew up that tiny tiny part she had in Happy-Go Lucky.
She's a keeper.
Ok Nat, I really don't get your disdain for Michael Shannon's performance in The Shape of Water. Or maybe it's just a type of role you don't respond to, but I find it fascinating how Del Toro takes an archetype of masculinity from whatever era he sets his films it and turns it into the Big Bad Wolf of the story (we also saw it with Jacinto in El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) and Capitán Vidal in El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)). And, what is The Shape of Water if not a twist on a fairy tale. I think because of the time of role he's playing, he's allowed to be broader and made to be somewhat larger-than-life.
But thenagain, I have noticed you have less and less patience for characters and stories that portray toxic masculinity, and that's respectable, but it must be really annoying for you when it's a topic that shows up in so many films every year (I personally find it fascinating and I get why so many filmmakers want to explore it, but I understand it can get tiring).
Don't care for TSOW or much about Shannon in it, but "You were speaking Russian.... BOB" is really one of the better line readings this year.
I love Mary Elizabeth Winstead so much - not only is she total babe, but she's also a helluva actress.
But I don't want her to be in a high-profile movie with Will Smith, not even with Ang Lee directing - she's fine in her career just where she is.
Adam Rippon is the hero 2018 needed.